All's Fair
by My-name-is-foxglove
Summary: The Death March is slightly easier the second time around, because while they may be in the middle of nowhere with teammates that fight even more than their old ones, at least he lets her bandage his knee in peace this time. Hirumamo 50 sentences.


**All's Fair**

Fandom: Eyeshield 21

Pairing: HiruMamo

Theme set: Beta

Warnings: Spoilers for the entire series, especially near the end.

Summary: All's fair in love and American Football- but then, Mamori's got a thing for subtle signals and Hiruma does love making trick plays...

Author's Note: I actually posted this on the hirumamo livejournal _wayyyy_ back in 2011, and just recently thought I should post it on here too. There're some minor edits but I've kept it mostly the same, bracket abuse and all. Reviews to me are what creampuffs are to Mamori.

* * *

**Walking**

They've shut themselves into the clubroom again, busy with making new trick plays and game plans; dawn is breaking when the door shuts with a quiet 'click', and Mamori, half asleep on her desk with a blanket slung carelessly around her, smiles into her arms (_Hiruma will be back in a few hours, she knows, slamming the door open and walking briskly, loudly complaining about her dozing off as he dumps an extra soda on her desk)._

**Waltz**

They skip the school dance to scout out the college leagues, and although he swears, she sighs and rumours about them are milling about like flies on honey, the long hours of research are well worth it; Mamori smiles warmly and Hiruma wildly grins, because their conspiring has just begun ("_Kekekeke! Saikyoudai dares to call itself 'the strongest' before _we're_ there?!")._

**Wishes**

Lately, Mamori gets the feeling she's become too indulgent towards Hiruma-kun and wishes she could just huff and get grumpy around him like she used to; but her hopes, she knows, are futile, because the moment he's back from the US he's tossing her a camcorder and Mamori doesn't even think, doesn't even consider saying no, just drops her broom to the ground and catches it _(and, worst of all,__ finds herself smiling because the familiar sight of the quarterback's sharp grin isn't unwelcome)._

**Wonder**

Mamori stumbles across the photograph purely by accident; a black haired boy looking sullenly at the camera with his hands hidden in the sleeves of an absurdly large coat (_"Who's this?" she asks Hiruma, thinking the child __absolutely adorable_).

**Worry**

Hiruma doesn't want to make her worry any more than she already has, and Mamori doesn't want to hurt his cherished pride, so they meet somewhere in the middlewith anxious worries and coarse reassurances only displayed behind closed doors (_"...Don't forget to take your painkillers." She murmurs, pausing with her hand on the clubroom door's handle; Hiruma rolls his eyes and tells her to go home and get some damn sleep_).

**Whimsy**

"You've got no damn time to waste when you're going after the things you want," Hiruma says and, for some reason, his eyes land on Anezaki's face.

**Waste/wasteland**

They bicker all the way to the clubroom, with Hiruma teasing that it was such a waste she didn't go to Enma with the damn shrimp and the others, and Mamori huffily retorting that she was just on his side because he wouldn't last long without her- then they open the door and Agon makes a smartass comment about the way Hiruma's forgotten to let go of Mamori's wrist.

**Whiskey and rum**

They're drunk and he's going on another trip to gather data; they're drunk and she only meant to look up and say goodbye; they're drunk and he only leant down to see her face; they're drunk and taste of whiskey and rum (_they're not really drunk_).

**War**

"I told you at the damn start of your retarded competition that Anezaki will always be the best manager for me to use. Are you stupid for not understanding? I can replace every damn member on my team, but the damn manager _stays_."

**Weddings**

"If it'll make your old man quit whining," Hiruma says to Mamori, listening to their baby's kicking with his eyes closed, and elfin ears twitching, "Why don't we just get married?"

**Birthday**

Mamori tells him it's her birthday, and Hiruma indifferently buys her a creampuff _(and that would have been the end of it, had Suzuna not –_loudly_– pointed out that Mamori-nee-chan was the only person the blonde quarterback bothered giving birthday presents to.)_

**Blessing**

To say the team was surprised about Saikyoudai would be the understatement of the century: they were all but comatose for a whole week before Mamori suddenly received a package in the mail that was literally filled to the brim with ridiculous and thoughtful gifts and letters from everyone on the team wishing her the best; the manager was, needless to say, moved to tears and Hiruma let her see just one little smile _(because maybe, just maybe, the commander from hell might have gotten something –a little more nervous and fearful in tone, but there nonetheless– in the post too_).

**Bias**

It has finally come, the match between her childhood friend and adulthood partner- and most people would be torn between the two, not knowing if they should root for one or both or neither, but not Mamori _(__she shouts for Hiruma to win__ with no regrets)._

**Burning**

Sometimes, she used to hate how mature he seemed (_because Hiruma was never embarrassed, never worried, never crying, and it always felt like she was the only one who cared),_ but now she realises that Hiruma worries, just in a way that isn't easily noticed (_when he asks if she's alright with going against Sena, __he isn't just teasing_).

**Breathing**

_(She takes a deep, calming breath and thinks of secret smiles, ripped up instructions and crying in the stadium's infirmary...)_ "I've loved you ever since high school," She tells him, "I didn't always know it...but I did. I still do."

**Breaking**

When Hiruma first starts talking about the college leagues, Mamori waits for him to start planning on how to drag the entire team along for the ride...but he doesn't (maybe he plans to start anew, Mamori thinks, with a better team, better manage- and then she can't think about it anymore, buries her head in her arms and tries to breath past her tight chest, halfway into a breakdown because she's just realised that _she'd stopped thinking about a future without him_).

**Belief**

They all think she's either some delicate girl who needs comforting or a superwoman without any weakness, but Hiruma knows Anezaki better than that: of course, the damn manager was smart, strong _and_ proud- but even the strongest people need a little reminder every now and then.

**Balloon**

Michio hadn't caused much trouble to begin with- other than the usual baby-occupations of crying in the middle of the night, throwing up on people's shoulders and filling up stinky nappies, his only bad habit was reaching out to pop his father's bubblegum, but that was before the child got a football in his hands, and made Mamori and Hiruma sigh in public _(and__ laugh behind closed doors.)_

**Balcony**

They're both too proud to ask, too frustrated to assume; Hiruma breaks the silence with a curse and tells Mamori that if she needs a damn date then _he'll be it-_ she nods, the smallest flush on her face, and he nods swiftly back, a drop or two of sweat still clear on his collar, and then they go around the rest of the day feeling _indescribably_ embarrassed and stupid.

**Bane**

He's the type who doesn't depend on anyone, and that's why he finds it so damn irritating when she tries to coddle him (_it's just too tempting to give in and kiss his pride goodbye_).

**Quiet**

The others don't have the faintest idea why Mamori would choose to side with a loud mouthed, hot tempered, trigger happy, victory obsessed quarterback, and her words when she tries to explain only makes them more confused (_"It just feels _right_. Otherwise everything's too...quiet."_).

**Quirks**

Slowly, but surely, Mamori lessens Hiruma's cursing to the point that when he doesn't swear at his father on sight, the old man gratefully clutches her hands with tears streaming down his face (_"D-daughter-in-law...!"_)

**Question**

"Oi, _Mamori_!" Hiruma yells across the campus, "University location, Washington D.C or Tokyo?!"

**Quarrel**

They used to have fearsome battles with bullets and brooms, but now it's just this: easily holding the camcorder full of blackmail above her head with his gun as she reaches for it with her broom, an embarrassed blush across her face (_Hiruma __finds that he likes teasing the damn manager more than fighting with her_).

**Quitting**

Hiruma had to admit that besides being pissed, he was also a little proud of the damn manager: they both knew that she'd pushed him into a corner by ripping up the letter, forcing him to stay safe or lose the game- but for all her brains, it was plain fact that Anezaki couldn't outsmart Hiruma even on her best day _("The instructions are in your pocket," he mutters to her before they're called onto the field, "Don't rip them up this time, damn manager. __You're not allowed to quit on me__.")_

**Jump**

She may get exasperated with his trigger happy ways or sweatdrop at his extreme way of doing things, but if Hiruma ever told Mamori to drop off a 50 storey building, she'd do it without fear _(she trusted ther__e'd be a safety net to catch her)_.

**Jester**

"Kekekeke!" Hiruma keeps laughing even as she stops clinging to him, as she blushes and glares in embarrassment now that the fearful man was gone, "Who'd believe the great 'Mamori-nee-chan' is afraid of clowns?!"

**Jousting**

It takes Sena tons of patience, nerves of steel and an especially strong stomach to explain to little Michio that the noises coming from his parents' bedroom weren't because they were fighting, and all the while he's inwardly scrubbing every inch of his mind with brain bleach, because he really doesn't want to think about Mamo-nee-chan and Hiruma-san doing..._that_.

**Jewel**

The only argument they really had about their wedding was the size of the diamond on Mamori's ring: Hiruma wanted big and flashy, while Mamori insisted on small and modest_ (they ended up with medium and __good enough_).

**Just**

Hiruma opens his mouth to complain about their bad luck, getting stuck in the middle of a road after a funeral, but Mamori looks over at him and says his name...then all the bitter, angry, stricken words come gushing out, because his damn old man had _no damn right _to die so early (_and the damn manager knew him too well, **damnit**, to have known he was shaking before she even touched his hand.)_

**Smirk**

When Mamori saw Hiruma smile genuinely for the first time, she knew she was doomed- how could someone who laughed so much, grinned so wildly and smirked so tauntingly have such a _warm_ smile?

**Sorrow**

The girl crying at his bedside definitely isn't Mamo-nee-chan, the dependable big sister figure...she's barely even the damn manager, master of secret signals... she's mostly just Mamori Anezaki, worried and scared.

**Stupidity**

Hiruma gives her a strange look after her outburst (_the suspicion had grown into a full out belief and all Mamori could do was shriek and shout, asking him how he could _dare_ to even _think_ about leaving the team –leaving _her_– behind as he went off to his precious college leagues and Rice Cup and-_) and then he says, as if it was obvious: "What the hell are you talking about? Of course, the rest of the team need to have a choice and pick their own paths– but _you're_ coming with _me_, damn manager."

**Serenade**

Mamori didn't understand how it had happened, how Hiruma had suddenly become so important _(the most important player on the field, though she didn't dare say it out loud_), but there it was, his place in her heart, and he just seemed to be selfishly grabbing more room with every passing day _(during big events, we are grateful for the little things, and after Gao broke Hiruma's arm, Mamori silently thanked Doburoku for not pointing at her red-rimmed eyes and saying __'I told you so'__)._

**Sarcasm**

When Mamori opened her mouth, she'd meant to sarcastically tell Suzuna that sure, the cheerleader was right, she worried about Hiruma-kun more than just a manager should because she was in lo...but Mamori stopped before her sentence even started, completely and utterly still as she realised something truly **_frightening_** _(when she thought the words in her head, they stopped sounding sarcastic.)_

**Sordid**

He leans over her shoulder to point at something on the screen, his collar bone brushing against her shoulder, and although the pressure on them is huge and unsettling –_ten more minutes to find a solution, just ten more_– she takes something like comfort from the brief contact, and breathes just a little more easily.

**Soliloquy**

Mamori _wants_ to say that she's debated long and hard about it, staying up night after night thinking about her decision, but the truth of the matter is really quite simple: between Enma and Saikyoudai, she chose Hiruma's side in a heartbeat.

**Sojourn**

The way they show affection is so fundamentally different that it's really not surprising how often they misunderstand each other and disagree- what's _surprising_ is how quickly and quietly they make up afterwards (_he walks into the room, a bunch of folders under one arm, and she stiffens at her desk; there is silence, and then he nonchalantly walks over, leans over her shoulder to point at something useless__ and make an empty remark; she turns her head to look at him for a moment, and there is a slight pause before she gives him an equally empty retort; she has inched, just a little, to the left and he sits down next to her, giving a brief nod of meaningless agreement before opening a topic of actual importance...and just like that, the tension between them is gone_) because it seems that no matter how mad they get, they just can't stay away from each other for long.

**Share**

It's the end of a long, hard day and Hiruma is sprawled across the couch, too exhausted to reach the bed; Mamori smiles and brushes a stray strand of hair out of his face, planning to go get him a blanket, but as she turns around Hiruma grabs her wrist and pulls her down with him, tiredly grinning at her half-hearted protests.

**Solitary**

Mamori is already seated in the front passenger seat when he comes back to the scouting car, and when Hiruma opens his mouth to demand his usual driver-privacy, she already has a retort ready _("I am never, _ever_," The manager stubbornly states, "Riding up there _again_.")_

**Nowhere**

The Death March is slightly easier the second time around because while they might be in the middle of nowhere with teammates that fight even more than their old ones, at least he lets her bandage his knee in peace this time.

**Neutral**

"You know, Mamo-nee, I've been thinking about chemistry: if You-nii's acid, and you're alkali, and Michio-kun's neutral, then it only makes sense that your relationship's exothermic, right?"

**Nuance**

Kurita and Musashi both smile when they see Hiruma and Mamori again, because though it's only something small, just a change in the way they walk (_closer together_), the way they talk (_more familiar words_) and their mode of transportation (_two people in one car_) they get the feeling that their old friend has finally found someone who will stay with him forever.

**Near**

It's both a blessing and a curse that Mamori is so used to Hiruma's presence: a blessing because she doesn't mind sleeping in the same room as him when there's a tight budget, and a curse because going to sleep has started feeling distinctively lonely if she doesn't hear the sound of his soft snoring...

**Natural**

It's only natural that there are a number of things that Hiruma likes to keep to himself _(and the fact that he once walked in on Anezaki changing is one of them)._

**Horizon**

There are hundreds of possible taunts he could use, a thousand ways to tease her about it, but when Mamori phones Hiruma after having a bad dream -just to hear his voice, to know he's okay, that his head's not bleeding, his arm's not broken- the quarterback acts as if it's perfectly normal to have a call from her just as the sun's rising, and talks about American football and trick plays until she falls back asleep.

**Valiant**

He has only ever allowed Mamori to fuss over him once: when he was too drained holding back screams and tears of pain to tell her to get back on the damn field and stop crying (_though, deep down in a place he'd never admit existed, her presence by his bedside __made it easier __to ignore his broken arm and think, plan, _strategize _because he couldn't let them lose, _not now).

**Virtuous**

He's always been the more observant of the two (_"You're such a bad influence," she huffs at him, "Kekeke," he grins back at her- she's not fooling him, "You know you like it,"_), and while sometimes it makes her frazzled, most of the time it makes her smile (_her lips twitch unwillingly up at the corners "I don't," she denies_).

**Victory**

Mamori's not sure when she started consciously trying to ignore her status with Hiruma-kun, but right now they've won a really close match that'll let them enter the Rice Cup, Hiruma's 'Ya-Ha!' is echoing around the stadium and...

**Defeat**

...right now, she'll admit she's not just a manager, he's not just a quarterback and (_Hiruma spins her wildly around, grins wickedly and won't listen when she yells at him to put her down, but really,_) somehow, the confession's not as bad as she thought it'd be (_she actually likes the feeling_).


End file.
